Digital video recorders, such as produced by TiVo, are popular because they allow consumers to watch desired programming at desired times. Programming interfaces for such devices now extend to the web and mobile phones—permitting users to remotely set shows for recording. However, such arrangements are still somewhat limited in their functionality and convenience.
In addition to TiVo, a great variety of other technologies are available to help consumers enjoy entertainment content at times and places of the consumers' choosing (e.g., Apple's iPhones, streaming video, etc.). However, these technologies also suffer from a variety of limitations.
The present technology seeks to eliminate certain shortcomings of these existing technologies, and to provide new features not previously contemplated.
Consider a business traveler who learns that his favorite sports team is playing a game during his travels, and wants the game recorded on his home TiVo. Existing web- and cell phone-based programming interfaces allow the user to search for the program in the TiVo program guide by title (or by actor/director, keyword, or category), and instruct the DVR to record.
Sometimes, however, the user doesn't learn of the program until it is underway. In this circumstance, the user may try to hurriedly perform a search for the program on his cell phone, and then instruct the home DVR to start recording. However, he may find this procedure unduly time consuming, and the rushed keyboard data entry both tedious and error-prone.
Sometimes the user doesn't know the correct title of the program, or doesn't guess the correct words by which the program is indexed in TiVo's electronic program guide. In other instances the user is engaged in another activity, and is not able to devote himself to the search/programming tasks with the concentration required.
At best, inception of the DVR recording is delayed; at worst no recording is made.
Consider another example—the traveler is speaking on the cell phone with his daughter when he notices a television documentary of interest (something about the Panama Canal). After concluding his telephone conversation he is disappointed to find that the documentary is ended—he didn't catch its name.
Consider yet another example. The traveler enters the airport lounge in the final seconds of a football game—just after a game-winning touchdown. He wishes he could have seen the end of the game—or at least the post-game highlights—but his flight is about to board. Again, he's left with nothing.
These and other scenarios are addressed by embodiments of the technology detailed herein.
Instead of identifying programs using text-based search, certain embodiments of the present technology identify programs by their audio or video content. That is, a cell phone or other such device serves as a media “forager”—employing its microphone or camera to capture some of the media content in the user's environment, and then use this captured data to automatically identify the content. Once identified, a great number of operations can be performed.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of embodiments of the present technology will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.